The real monastic walks through life with a barefooted soul, alert, aware, grateful, and only partially at home. ~ Joan Chittister

Friday, November 23, 2007

It was the best of times...

After helping set up for the church's community meal on Wednesday night and Thursday morning, indulging in more than my share of Thanksgiving gluttony at my sister's house, and several hours of Wii bowling (we will not talk about my less-than-stellar Wii tennis skills), I knew I would be doing nothing productive on Thursday evening. Left alone to my own devises, I gave in and opened my Gilmore Girls Season 7 DVD. I only watched the first disc, but it was enough to confirm that everything I had heard was indeed true – this season is just not the same GG we have come to know and love. Both the storylines and the dialogue are strained and, if I did not love these characters so much, I would have lost interest quickly. It appears the scripts for season 7 must have contained notes reading, “insert witty cultural reference here” and “insert quirky townspeople scene here”. They had an ending to get to, one season to do it in, and none of Amy Sherman-Palladino’s notes, so it was simply a matter of moving the storyline along to its bitter end. *sigh* There are even awkward camera angles and lighting, the whole thing just feels different. In past seasons, the episodes had a theme, and the story line was moved along in the midst of that theme (i.e. the Bracebridge Dinner or the opening of Taylor’s Soda Shoppe). Now, it feels more like the progression of the soap opera storyline is the focus and the wacky everyday life events are inserted out of tradition. It just feels forced, not a natural rhythmic progression of life as it happens. I was delighted that the “drive-in movie” chosen happened to be Audrey Hepburn’s Funny Face, which I highlighted here, just a few posts ago – at least I felt some connection. I just think it is a sad, sad way for my favorite series to wrap up – with pseudo-clever dialogue and poor delivery at that. I did notice that Helen Pai is still a producer, which made me wonder what a producer’s job is, exactly. I always thought they were the money-movers, in which case, I would assume they could have figured out a way to keep the show’s creators. After all, Helen is supposed to be Amy’s best friend and the inspiration for Laine Kim. If she could not save the show, what hope is there for humanity? I am willing to admit my potentially biased perspective. Perhaps it is like that glaring zit on someone’s face that you do not notice until they point it out to you, and then you cannot help but stare at it. Maybe the show is simply awkward to me because I am aware of what was lost, and would appear seemingly normal to the untrained eye. However, since I know the puss is there, I cannot help but be aware of it, and I am simply going through the motions of watching my beloved show.